Are you for real?
by alksnflaskfnx3
Summary: High school. Drama. Love triangles. Long/cute story. Better than the summary- i suck at them. major Zutara.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everybodyyy!

This is my FIRST fanfic on avatar! and my FIRST fanfic ever! One of those high school ones. Main pairing: Zuko&Katara. Zuko has no scar because i dont know what to write about how he got it. Oh, and this story will have Katara changing throughout a LOT. Like, her in the beginning isnt the real her. hope you enjoy.

P.S R&R. I'd like that. Be nice. ;)

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**Chapter 1: **Who was THAT?!

_Calm down. Just because you're a freshman doesn't mean people will eat you. __  
_

Katara comforted herself about the first day of high school as she rushed down the clean sidewalk, barely acknowledging the fact that she needed to calm down because school wasn't starting for another half hour and it wasn't even a quarter of a mile from her house, but she had to meet her friends at the entrance gate, and for once, she tried to not be late. A smile spread across her features when her friends came into view.

"Kataraaaa!" Ty Lee chirped while jumping up in down from excitement of starting school in less than half an hour.

"Ty Leeeee!" she responded with the same perkiness. The two hugged and jumped up and down with delight.The other two joined in.

Mai, Toph, and Katara have been best friends since elementary school. Katara knew Toph since preschool, but the two never really talked until third grade. Katara became friends with Mai in second grade, and Mai and Toph have been friends since sixth grade. Ty Lee became best friends with Toph in sixth grade and met Katara and Mai in eighth. It didn't matter when who met who, because now, all four of them were the best of friends. And coincidentally, all of them were Asian.

"Dudes, I am so fucking nervous," Katara stated.

"I know, seriously. But let's meet up at Building C for lunch," Toph offered. The other girls glanced at each other and nodded. Mai raised an eyebrow at Katara's expression- it was unreadable.

"How do i look?" Katara twirled in a circle so her friends could see her. All three of them rolled their eyes.

"You look FINE" They said in unison after looking her up and down. She was satisfied.

Katara wore a white baby doll shirt that reached a little bit above her knees with black capri-leggings underneath. She had always been one to accessorize and today she chose to stick with a delicate and small necklace that lightly rested on her bare neck. Her earrings sparkled in the sun and brought out her charming smile, even if they were only dangling hearts. Her long, layered and wavy hair was combed perfectly and loosely fell down her back. On her feet were a pair of ridiculously cute black ballet flats with white polka dots and a medium sized white bow sitting on top. Even though she wore flats, she was still taller than all three of her friends. Katara was 5'5" and had an athletic/fit looking body. She wasn't skinny and she wasn't fat. She was average.

By this time, more students had come onto campus. Everybody seemed unsure about what they were wearing or how they looked. Some greeted each other like how Katara greeted her friends earlier, but most just kept to themselves and waited to find somebody they knew.

"Hey guys, we should probably start finding our classes now. I think the bell's gonna ring in a couple minutes," Mai said with a little concern.

"Yeah you're probably right. So.. see you guys at lunch?" Ty Lee started picking up her backpack.

"Mhm!"

"Sure."

"Definitely."

"It sucks how none of us have any classes together," Toph gloomily gave them all hugs and started to leave.

"Bye guys!" Katara waved and headed off to her class. Schedule in hand, she looked around to find building B, room 231. Everybody else was finding classes and nervously looking around for friendly looking people. She finally found the right building and was ready to go up the stairs, when-

"Oof! My fault, sorry." A taller girl with straight dark brown hair stood with the same expression on her face and a schedule in hand.

"Suki!" Katara happily jumped on Suki for a hug.

"Oh, it's you Katara! I didn't recognize you! You usually braid your hair."

"Yeah, but i'm starting to leave it down. I like it better that way." She gave a big smile at Suki.

Suki and Katara had been best friends ever since sixth grade, but starting in eighth grade, they stopped seeing each other at school because Katara hung out with different people. They were still best friends, nonetheless.

"That's cool. What classes do you have? I wanna know if we have the same classes." Suki reached for Katara's schedule. "No way! We both have math in B-231 first period!"

"Are you kidding?! Awesome!" Katara was delighted that she at least knew somebody in her class.

"Hey! Move it! Some people actually have to get through the halls here," a sharp and unfriendly voice cut through the two friends' conversation. It was Nikki Montio, and she was SCARY. Last year, in eighth grade, she hated Katara even though they've never met and spread rumors about her. She even made threats about Katara's health. She didn't do anything about it but Nikki suddenly stopped after a while for some reason. Katara guessed it had to do with her brother, Sokka. He was super protective."Oh, it's you. Disgusting bitch. Get out of the way." Nikki might have stopped the threats and rumors, but her attitude towards her was still the same.

Katara and Suki stepped aside silently and walked to the corner of the building without saying anything.They didn't want to start anything with Nikki, so they pretended it never happened and went on with their conversation. Just then, the bell rang, and all students started filing into the classes except for Suki and Katara. They started to frantically look for B-231 but couldn't find it.

"Yeah, I hope we get the easy math teacher. You know, the one that sometimes falls asleep at his chair when students are working?" Suki grinned at Katara, who thought about which teacher she was talking about. They walked faster.

"Oh yeah! I heard about him. What was it? Mr. Larkin?"

"That's the one. People say he gives a lot of extra credit too. Did you do any studying during the summer while i was visiting Japan?"

-silence-

Suki forgot about her unanswered question and waved her hand in front of her friend that just completely stopped in her tracks.

"Hello! Katara? Come on, we have to hurry."

"Oh my goodness. Suki." Katara grabbed Suki's wrist and stared straight in front of her, eyes wide. Like she was in a trance. Suki thought she forgot how to breathe.

"What?! Hot guy?! You forgot to breathe?!"

"Hot guy. Hotter than hot. Shit. And he's coming this way." Katara normally never said this kind of thing. It must be good.

Walking down the hall in the opposite direction was a guy with dark, raven hair that almost covered his golden eyes. He had baggy dark blue jeans- not too baggy!- and a nice shirt that fit him perfectly. He paid no attention to the two girls across the hall that were staring at him.

"Holy fuck. That guy is GORGEOUS!" Suki almost forgot about Sokka. "But not as good as Sokka," she quickly added, regardless if it was true or not.

Katara just stood there. Breath caught. The late bell rang, and she still was standing there. The boy didn't seem affected by the late bell either, because he just took his time.

* * *

Katara's POV:

_He's getting so close! I hope I look okay. What if something's on my face? _Katara quickly fixed her hair and clothing. _Shit. He probably thinks I'm an idiot, just standing here looking for my class. _

* * *

Suki's POV:

_Oh dear, Katara's probably freaking out inside. Here she goes. _Suki silently laughed at her panicky friend as she predicted Katara's next movements. _First she combs her hair with her hands. Then she makes some hair frame her face. And then the hair on her right side has to be a little bit behind her ear. But on the left, it has to be in front of her shoulders in front of her ear. Why is she always like this on the first day of something? _Suki looked from her friend to the mysterious boy passing by.

* * *

Boy's POV:

_Why are they staring at me? Ugh, i hate it when girls do that. But it doesn't seem to bother me so much when this girl does it. whatever. what's wrong with me?_

* * *

Back to normal:

Katara finished fixing herself up. At this time, Suki and Katara both forgot about class and just focused on what was happening. They tried to make their staring a little bit discreet, but Suki knew he realized they were both staring at him. She prayed Katara wouldn't do anything outrageously dumb.

The guy was about to pass by the both of them but paused. WIthout even looking at them, he smirked and continued to walk.

Both girls had their mouths wide open and stared at his back as he walked. Then he disappeared behind the corner.

Katara was suprisingly outraged by him.

"That asshole!" Katara fumed.

"What are you talking about?!" Suki was very confused. He didn't even say anything!

"I JUST WANNA RIP HIM TO THREADS UGHH HE MAKES ME SO MAD."

"...?"

"DIDN'T YOU SEE THE WAY HE SMIRKED? HE WAS SO ARROGANT!"

Suki had no idea why Katara was so mad.

So the whole time they walked to class, (not bothering to hurry because they were super late anyway) Katara was cursing about a certain raven haired fellow.

* * *

HEHE! So what did you guys think?

I had no idea how to make katara mad. Sorry, that part was a little bit sloppy. Give me ideas!

and i bet you guys can guess who this fellow is ;)

R&R!


	2. Chapter 2

Ohmygoodness. i need advice. T.T

oh yeah, for the Zatara/Zuko moments, could someone PLEASE write them for me? I might do a really sloppy job.

And im gonna try to do like a chapter per day. or more. hehe. This chapter today has a little bit of Mai/Zuko, because that's what starts the whole story. DONT worry! I'm gonna destroy theyre little relationship with overflowing scenes of Katara/zuko. heheheh.

R&R! and enjoy. :)

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**Chapter 2:** You too?!

Wow. Katara couldn't believe it- she actually made it through 4 periods without making a giant fool out of herself or falling asleep. Except for first period, when Suki and her burst through the classroom door to realize the whole class had been waiting for them. Stupid teacher. But now, it was lunch time and Katara could relax after saying bye to Suki and finding her friends.

"Guys, during brunch, i saw the CUTEST guy ever! He was with two of his friends," Mai was telling the group about some guy when Katara showed up. The other two were enchanted and had looks on their faces that would remind you of little kids getting told a story.

"Really?! What was his name?"

"TELL ME MORE!"

Katara was very interested because usually Mai is so boring and monotonous.

"There he is!" Mai eagerly pointed behind Katara, and Toph and Ty Lee turned around to look.

Their faces fell when they realized there were tons of guys in the direction she pointed.

"That's a bit _vague_," Toph pointed out, "Could you give us a DESCRIPTION or something?"

"Okay. Fine. He has ravenish hair that almost covers his golden eyes, he's wearing dark blue jeans, and he's with that girl, Azula." Katara's eyes widened as she realized the description fit exactly with the boy she saw in the morning. She spun around. Sure enough, he was with a girl that looked similar to him and they looked like they were arguing about something.

"Zuko?! Tell me something i don't know. Ugh, everybody thinks they're gorgeous. Him and his sister. Of course. Their parents own a really big company in Japan or something." Toph was saying in a as-a-matter-of-fact attitude, "And he always has the highest scores on tests. I heard they were both very stuck up." Ty Lee, Mai, and Katara gaped at her like she was some alien from outer space. How did she know so much about him? "But I wouldn't know. I never talked to any of them. I just heard." Toph quickly added after glancing at their expressions.

"He is **so** cute," Mai said in a dreamy voice. She sounded drunk. Katara slapped her forehead.

"You too?! That's what I thought. But wait 'til you see how much of a jerk he is." Katara was still pissed from this morning.

"You talked to him?" Mai sounded kind of hurt. Ty lee and Toph just listened.

"I uhm.. n-not really." Katara looked at the floor, embarrassed. She wanted to take back those words because Zuko didn't really say anything to her. She didn't even know why she was so mad.

"Then what do you mean?"

"Well, actually.. er.. nevermind." This made Mai even more curious.

"Say what you wanted to say." Katara flinched at Mai's tone; it was sharper than necessary. When Mai wanted to know something, she wouldn't let it go. Especially when it comes to a guy- she's extremely competitive and would do anything to get what she wants. No matter what. You could blame this on her parents. Since she's an only child, her parents give her everything she asks for because they're filthy rich. Mai lives in a huge mansion with big,beautiful vintage gates that open to a lively one acre garden filled with colorful flowers and a breathtaking creek that went around to the backyard. And, for her 16th birthday, her father promised a SSC Ultimate Aero. Yeah.

Wanting to get rid of the awkwardness, Ty Lee nervously said something about her teachers."Oh my gosh guys, my language arts teacher is SO weird. What kind of English teacher has an Asian accent?"

Toph was thankful for Ty Lee saving her from listening to an awkward conversation. It was just uncomfortable for her to be right next to Mai while she was questioning katara. "Yeah, Suki and I have the strangest teacher. He fell asleep on his desk after assigning us 3 pages from the math book on the FIRST day. What a strange teacher."

Mai saw Zuko walk behind the building by himself, so her face was alarmed and she had to find an excuse to go after him. "Uh.. guys, I'm gonna go to the bathroom." With that, she took her backpack and left. "Don't wait for me- fifth period's starting soon. I'm gonna go there right after. See you guys by the main gate after school!" Her friends watched her back as she hurried off.

"Well **that** was abrupt." Ty Lee said flatly.

Katara sensed it was more than just going to the bathroom. First, she went the wrong way; the bathroom was to the left. And second, Mai had been watching him all lunch. And disappears right after him. _It doesn't matter to me_, she tried to tell herself. _Hes just another cocky asshole_.

**Meanwhile...**

Mai hurried behind the building to where Zuko was. _Wasn't he just here?_

She had no idea that a certain golden haired boy was watching her from the second level, in the shadows of the building. He wasn't a creep- he just wanted to be alone after the dispute with his sister a few minutes earlier. She could be so frustrating. So when he went to be alone, this girl had followed him and he had noticed. He seemed attracted to this girl. She has this thing about the way she gracefully moves, and her Japanese-style dark hair matched his raven hair perfectly. It seemed like he knew her from an earlier life or something. It wasn't normal. He wasn't attracted to ANYBODY. They were all annoying.

_Ugh I'm so stupid. First the girl from this morning, and now this girl. What the hell is happening? But i can't help it...Should i... I need to talk to her._ He jumped from the second story to the first in one easy stroke. He landed on both feet and walked up behind the girl. Then, he reached for her shoulder..

"AHHHH!" Mai was about to karate-chop the rapist's head off, but a hand caught her and held firmly but gently.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. It was an accident." A deep, quiet voice tried to calm her down. And it did.

"Then let go of me. Stupid perv." Mai was annoyed. NOBODY touches her without permission. She fiercely struggled out of his grasp and he eventually let go.

"I'm not accustomed to people calling me a pervert." The boy behind her mused and she was released from his grasp.

Mai immediately turned around to stare at the golden eyed beauty in front of her. She flushed furiously. _He looks even better up close. Go back to normal. Stop being such a spaz.  
_

He took a step closer to her with a mysterious but dazzling smile spread across his perfect face. He took a good look at her soft face and watched as she changed her expression to a bored looking one. His hand reached out to stroked her cheek, but before they made contact, the bell rang.

"Uhm.. I'm gonna go to class now." Mai inwardly cursed at the timing of the school bell. It was usually on her side, since it rang and let her out of the pain-in-the-ass classes she has to go to. She turned and walked away from the calm boy.

"Yeah.. see you." Zuko whispered and went to class.

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Sorry about how incredibly short this chapter is. My friends are killing me to post the new chapter, so the next one will be EXTRA long!

and it might be a bit sloppy. I NEED TIPS AND ADVICE! R&R! ;)

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	3. Chapter 3

Hellooooo!

I hope you guys like this chapter :) It's extra long! Because i'm sick.

R&R please.

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**Chapter 3**: Safe

"I'm hommmeeee!" Katara put her backpack down, took off her shoes, and entered the lovely medium-sized house. Sokka rushed down the stairs and grabbed Katara's arm to pull her into another room. "Sokka! Stop pulling my arm. What's the matter?

Sokka seemed really excited for some reason. "Come on, i have to show you something. You'll like it."

The two siblings walked into the living room, where a too familiar boy sat on the couch. He looked up and his face lightened immediately.

"Aang!" Katara rushed over to give the 7th grade boy a hug. This was the first time she saw him all summer.

He laughed and hugged her back, "I just got back from Peru today, so I decided to come visit you and Sokka!"

"Peru?" Katara gave him a weird look. "Why were you in Peru?"

"I didn't tell you? There was an orphanage there that needed help so I volunteered to go for a while."

"Wow! That's awesome."

"Yeah.." He smiled up lovingly at his best friend. Katara noticed this and inwardly sighed- Aang had liked her for the longest time ever, but she told him that they would be better off as friends. She just didn't like him that way.

* * *

"Hey! Zuko!" A voice called from behind. It was Alex; one of his friends.

"Hey man, sup?" Zuko turned and they did a little handshake thingy. (Lmfao sorry guys, i have no idea how guys should talk to each other.)

"You disappeared today. Why?"

"Oh uhh.. Azula was being a bitch."

"People said they saw you and some girl behind a building near the end of lunch." Alex grinned at Zuko, who tried to hold back his blush. "What's that all about?"

"It's nothing."

"Really. 'Cause you never pay attention to any girl more than you should. Even though I would kill to be you, lucky bastard. You've got girls all over you."

"Whatever." Alex knew he couldn't get Zuko to say anything more so he stopped trying and changed the subject before he got beat up.

* * *

Ty Lee's POV:

"And then I was like 'oh my god he's hella cute' but she was like 'hes mine by the way' and i was like 'nu uh!' and then she was like 'yes he is. he talked to me before he talked to you' and i was like 'that's only because you pushed me behind you when he looked our way' and she was like 'noo you should've seen the way he looked when i started talking' and i was like 'well it's not like-"

"TY LEE. You have been talking for like ten minutes without taking a breath." Mai looked pretty mad. "Here, eat this. Occupy your mouth. " She handed me some kind of candy so I put it in my mouth and talked with my mouth full.

"Sorry. But Sarah was just REALLY annoying. Like EVERY TIME she sees Alex, she tries to cover me like she's afraid of me doing something. I don't even think he knows my name yet and he's seen me a billion times."

I could see Toph roll her eyes so I shut up.

We walked through her gates and then got into the limo. I think it's awesome how there's a driver that sits and waits for people to come into the gate so he can drive them to the front door. Although.. it must be boring to wait for somebody to come in. The butler led us inside. He bowed to Mai, then took our backpacks inside.

"Mai, shouldn't we start our homework?" Toph was always the one who suggested we do our work. I closed my eyes, expecting Mai to snap at her. When nothing happened, I opened my eyes, surprised and confused about why she was acting so weird. What was she thinking about?

* * *

"Well.. I should probably go home." Aang started to stand, and Katara led him to the front door. It was getting dark but Katara didn't notice time go by because her parents weren't home yet. Strange.

"Ah. Well I don't want you to walk home in the dark. Lemme go get my jacket." Aang rolled his eyes and smiled- Katara was always acting like a mother he never had. His parents both died when he was a baby and now he lived with his aunt and uncle.

"I'm walking Aang home!" Katara yelled out to the almost empty house and heard Sokka reply back with a faint okay.

Aang wasn't going to argue about how Katara was going to walk back alone because he would just lose. She was too motherly. They started to walk down the driveway in peaceful silence, and Aang gazed up at night sky, listened to the whistling wind, and felt the chilly air, until Katara broke the comfortable silence.

"Are you excited about starting school in a few days?"

Aang smiled and nodded. She started walking faster; he noticed.

"Yeah, I remember my seventh grade teachers. They were all old and crippled." She laughed and Aang listened to her melodious voice and was reminded about how she told him they couldn't be together on that not-too-distant night. It still pained him. He gave a halfhearted laugh as a response, which made Katara feel uncomfortable because she knew what he was thinking about.

"And my teachers this year aren't much better. Even the math teacher falls asleep at his desk because he's so boring."

"Mmm.."

"Wait." He felt her hand stop him from walking and wondered why, but then saw a driver sped down the road right past them, going at a speed that could send another car flying. "Be careful. Drivers are always so careless." Katara slightly bit her trembling bottom lip as she thought about her mother.

* * *

Zuko sipped his drink. He looked outside the big window, trying to distract himself from what Azula said earlier. _'He doesn't even think of you as a son.'_ He badly wanted to tell himself that it wasn't true, that his father really did love him and care for him but he knew he couldn't. His relationship with his father had been terrible ever since he refused to continue the family business when his parents retired. He got up, put money on the table, and walked outside in the streets. He was getting tired of just sitting around so he decided to walk around before heading back to his uncle's.

* * *

"I've.." Aang started to say something but saw Katara tense up and decided to say something else. "Thanks for walking me back. Are you sure you'll be okay going back alone?"

He saw her relax. "I'll be fine."

"Okay.. well then, bye! "Aang gave Katara a hug before running into the house.

Katara checked her cellphone and decided she had time to go downtown. She dialed the number for home and waited for a response.

"Hello?" A familiar voice answered the phone.

"Hey dad, it's me, Katara. I'm gonna head downtown to get a drink. I'll be home in like, an hour, okay?"

"Do you need me to go pick you up?"

"No, I'm fine. Thanks dad."

"Be careful Katara. The streets are more dangerous at night."

"I will."

"Alright, bye."

"Bye."

She started heading towards busier streets, starting to feel more and more unsafe as drunk men started coming out of bars and clumsily falling over, saying random things to strangers. _Actually, this isn't such a good idea. I shouldn't be alone at night anyway. _She stopped to turn around to head back when a hand reached out, grabbing her shoulder.

"Where 'ya going lil lady?" To her horror, it was a drunk man.

"N-nowhere. L-let go of me!" Katara tried to not sound scared, but the guy didn't buy it. He devilishly smiled at her as she began to yank away, but he grabbed her arm.

"Hey. Nobody walks away from me."

"Y-you're drunk." _Holy fucking shit. What do i do? Should i scream? _

"You're point is? C'mon, just give me a 'lil kiss." He pulled her closer to him, regardless of whether or not she wanted to.

"NO!"

* * *

"Hello?"

"Zuko, where are you? Aren't you staying here tonight? Why didn't you pick up your phone?" A concerned voice was on the other line.

"Uncle, I'm sorry for coming so late." His watch read 10:42. "I'm coming right now."

"You better. I can't drink tea when i'm worried!" _Click._ Iroh hung up.

Zuko sighed and started to head back from where he came from, until he heard a girl screaming. At first, he was going to ignore it, but he saw that it was the same girl from earlier.

"STOP IT!" Katara tried to shove the drunk away. His friends came outside the bar, joining him. One of them had a knife. She felt tears trickle down her cheeks after she was thrown into the ally._ Is this how I'm gonna die? _

Suddenly, the men had their attention on something else. She could vaguely see a person in the middle of three figures, who were closing in on him.

_Somebody else is getting hurt because of me! I can't watch.  
_

A thud. She could hear sounds of somebody getting thrown into the wall. When she opened her eyes, she expected to see the three men coming back after beating the intruder, but instead, saw that the fight was still going on. It was no longer three against one, but two against one. Hope filled her thoughts. She could hear the sound of the pocket knife making contact with skin.

_I don't want to be this helpless. _

The fight was happening too fast; she couldn't follow what was going on. A few seconds later, a second figure dropped to the floor. The third took off before the same could happen to him, limping in the process.

"You should be more careful next time."

She didn't say anything. A hand led her out of the dark into the street light, letting her try to recover from what just happened. Unfortunately, her vision went dark and she fell unconscious into warm, strong arms that held her protectively.

_Crap. Why'd she have to faint before she told me where she lives? God damn. _T.T _I guess I should take her to Uncle's. But then I'd be in deeper shit.._

Zuko looked around, as if something would give him a clue about what to do. He shook his head, deciding to bring Katara to Uncle's, where he guessed she could spend the night in his room.

_I don't even know this girl! Ack- she's getting kind of heavy. _

When a chilly breeze came, he felt her hands wrap around his neck tighter. He shook off the redness that was coming to his cheeks.

Uncle's house came into view after about 5 minutes of walking. All the lights were turned on. The door opened, revealing a worried looking man who jogged to Zuko and launched a million questions in the air, ignoring Zuko's uncomfortable expression and ignoring his struggle with keeping the girl from falling off his numb arms.

"Who is this?"

"Some girl."

"Do you know her?"

"No."

"Then why are you carrying her?"

"She's unconscious."

"What happened?"

Zuko's eyebrow twitched. In an annoyed tone, he said "Uncle, I'd be happy to answer these questions after I put her down."

"Oh yeah, sorry, she must be heavy. Hurry. Put her in your room."

Katara was subconsciously listening. She felt a sudden urge to slap the man that called her heavy, but was too tired to wake up, so she stirred in Zuko's arms.

Zuko hurried up the stairs and into his room, where was about to lay her down on his bed.

_Why does my pillow feel so warm?  
_

He felt her head snuggle further into his chest.

_Dad? Sokka? I should open my eyes.._

"Dad.. Sokka.." Her eyes fluttered open to a dark figure- she couldn't see his face; it was too dark.

"Who the hell is Sokka?" A voice she didn't recognize answered. Katara's eyes widened with horror.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHO THE HELL ARE **YOU**?! LET ME GOOOOOO!" She started to have a heart attack, kicking her legs and flapping her arms like a maniac.

Iroh heard the commotion downstairs. He chuckled to himself. _That nephew of mine.. he gets himself in trouble on a regular basis._

"Whoa! Hold still or I'm gonna drop you." Zuko desperately tried to calm her down, which she did, partly because of the threat and partly because she felt safe around this voice; it was from before, when it was telling her to be more careful next time. Pft. Like there was a next time.

"W-who are you?" Katara felt the gentle arms set her down on the bed.

"Doesn't matter. You're safe and it's late. Just go to sleep." The figure went outside of the room and shut the door.

"Hey! Wait!" Katara wasn't stupid. She tried to keep her eyes open so she could get her questions answered, but sleep quickly won the struggle. Besides, the bed was so comfy!

Downstairs, Iroh was sitting at the table waiting for Zuko to come down so they could have their little 'talk'. But when Zuko went downstairs, his uncle was forcing back a laugh when his eyes met Zuko's.

He knew why Iroh was laughing. It was from her screaming. "What?"He was daring Iroh to mention it.

"Nothing, nothing." Uncle just waved his hand and dismissed the subject to avoid embarrassing his nephew even further.

"Where do I sleep tonight?" He didn't wait for an answer."Nevermind. I'll sleep on the couch."

* * *

Geeeeeez! That was a long chapter. I can't wait to continue writing. And you guys, PLEASE continue reading ;)


	4. Chapter 4

That last chapter was interesting, no? ;) Lucky you people, i decided to do 2 chapters today!

And I felt like i should say the obvious. Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or any of it's characters.

R&R!

* * *

**Chapter 4**: Who was it?

"Hey. Wake up." A hand desperately attempted to wake Katara up by shaking her.

She drowsily slapped it away and turned her body.

A little more forceful this time, the hand tried again. "Hey you, wake up! Go to school."

_Liar. It's a Saturday. _Katara was cranky- she didn't like people telling her to wake up. It was always Sokka. Bad things always happened to him when he tried to wake her up. Unfortunately, the person who owned the hand didn't know this.

"Will you just please get up?!"

"Tell me to get up one more time Sokka and I'll tell Suki about your teddybear." (heh.) Zuko held back a laugh and stopped, not wanting somebody else to suffer something that was his fault.

He tried to reason with her. "But i'm not-"

"SOKKA!" She still had her eyes closed. Zuko sighed and walked out of the room, shaking his head on the way out. Katara smiled and went back to dream land.

"She just won't wake up!" Zuko stormed into the kitchen, telling Iroh about his situation.

"Well, then I guess she's gonna miss school. I'd love to stay and help but I've got to go to the office."

"Fine. I'll deal with it. By the way, don't let Azula find out about this." Iroh nodded and walked out the door.

Zuko pondered for a few minutes about what to do with the stubborn girl in his bed. Come to think of it, they were complete strangers.

_Whatever then. I'm just gonna go to school. _He left the house and started off for school, which was about a mile and a half away from his uncle's house. He had no idea that Azula was at home.

* * *

Azula's POV:

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

_Ughhh that stupid alarm has been going off for the longest time ever. _

I reached out to the table next to my head and tried to shut the alarm off without realizing that it was later than I thought. At last, when I couldn't find the off button on the alarm, my eyes opened and i saw the time.

_Fuck. Shit. Fuck. I'm gonna be late to school. Zuko already left! I'm not gonna let him get better attendance than me!  
_

I rushed through the hall without making my bed. When I went past Zuko's room, I saw something underneath his blankets. _That can't be him. Didn't he already leave? _When I went into is room, there was a girl sleeping in his bed!! _What the hell? Did he SLEEP with her or something?! Dad is so gonna freak. _I grinned.The sleeping girl looked like she was about to wake, so i dashed out of Zuko's room and out the front door to school.

* * *

**Two hours later**

Katara sleepily sat up in bed and yawned. She rubbed her eyes stood up, not yet noticing where she was. When she did, she gasped and fell back onto the bed, trying to recall what had happened.

_Last night. Last night. I was cornered in an ally.. and.. Ack i can't remember. Somebody saved me? What happened?_

Katara was extremely alarmed and scared about why she was in somebody else's bed. She prayed nothing happened. Her clothes were still on, which was a good sign. The room she was in was very organized; everything was in place except for the bed which was a mess- she had been turning a lot in her sleep. When she walked outside of the room, she looked both ways and stepped outside to see a huge second story. It had at least 8 rooms and 4 bathrooms! She went into the nearest one to at herself in the mirror. Holy crap. She looked terrible. Her eyes were red and puffy, her hair was all over the place, and the clothes she had been wearing were all wrinkly.

She made her way downstairs, petrified about what she would find. A kidnapper? A molester? Nobody was there. She took this as a good sign, and after finding a piece of paper and pen, she wrote a simple 'thanks' and left the note on the kitchen table and left the house.

The street outside was unfamiliar. Katara couldn't recognize where she was or how she would get home. Luckily, her cell phone still had one battery bar left and she dialed home. _Please answer._

"Katara?" It was her father. She could hear Sokka yelling in the back.

"D-d-dad." katara started crying into the phone. "I'm so sorry I didn't come home last night. When I went to get a drink, three drunk guys saw me a-a-nd" She couldn't finish.

"Shhh.. honey it's okay. Where are you? I'll go pick you up."

She told Hakoda the street name and sat down on the curb to wait for him to finish looking it up on the internet. When his car was in view, she ran towards it. Sokka got out of the passenger seat to give Katara a long hug. Hakoda joined in.

"Dude, Katara, never do that again. We we so worried. We called hella cops and shit."Sokka was squishing her.

"Let's go home." Her father wrapped his arm around Katara as he led her to the car.

The drive home was silent the whole way.

When the three got home, Hakoda told Katara to get ready for school. If she hurried, she could make it in time for fourth period. He had no idea what his daughter went through last night but had promised her that they would talk right after school.

Hakoda dropped Sokka and Katara off at the main office where they could sign in and take their tardy slips. Since Katara was too lazy to tell what had happened, she just told them she slept in. Sokka, on the other hand, argued with the lady at the desk after telling her it was a 'family emergency'. Defeated, he went to the remaining 3 periods of the school day. (Not fair!)

* * *

**Three periods later:**

Unsurprisingly, Hakoda had taken they day off to talk with Katara right after school, just like how he promised. He was waiting in the car right outside the main office where Katara and Sokka had just come in front of. They got in the car and talked about how their school day went, ect.

"So katara, start off with what happened last night," Hakoda said as he sat down on the couch across from her.

"Yeah, what happened?" Sokka flopped down right next to her.

"Well.. I don't really remember what happened, but.." She trailed off as she eyed both of them.

"It's okay honey, just tell us what you remember," Hakoda gently coaxed his daughter.

Katara started off with when she said goodbye to Aang, and made her way to the parts where the drunk man started talking to her. When she got into details, her father and brother had deadly expressions on their faces. When she told them about the mysterious person who rescued her, they relaxed a bit and clenched their fists when she woke up in a different bed.

"If I ever find out who those drunk men were.." Sokka was really upset. His baby sister had been assaulted!

Hakoda stayed silent. He then stood up to hug Katara.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that. I should'nt have let you go out at night by yourself."

"Dad, it's not your fault. Really. I should have been more careful."

The sound of the door broke up the family 'talk' and Hakoda went to answer the door- it was his friend paying a visit.The two grown men walked into the room where Katara was just at and started chatting.

Katara ran up the stairs into her room. She had a million questions in her head, had no answers to them, and was really tired. _Who saved me? Who's house was I at? _

Sighing, she decided to finish her homework before falling asleep.

* * *

Hey guys, sorry this chapter was SUPER boring. The next chapter is gonna be better; I promise.


	5. Chapter 5

Just a heads up guys:

I'll be changing my writing style a tiny bit to make it more effective.

Tell me what you guys think!

Heh. I have so many plans for Zuko and Katara. I'll make it happen.


	6. Chapter 6

R&R! Enjoy.

:)

* * *

**Chapter 5:** Eeeew, you again!

It has been three weeks since school started but Katara felt like it had been months- the long, hard school days just dragged on, with the same boring routine every single day. On top of that, her teachers felt the need to fill up students' agendas with piles of endless work.

Katara groaned as she sat down to do her work on a Saturday afternoon. _I'm never gonna finish this absurd project._ She quickly skimmed the paper that was telling her what to do. _Great, now this thing wants me to go to the library to get books. _

She unwillingly got up to ask her father for a ride before reaching a conclusion that walking there would relieve her of the slight twinge of guilt she felt about missing the excellent weather outside. The library wasn't too far anyway. Katara picked up her backpack, ready to leave the house.

The streets were quiet. She breathed the fresh air coming from the bright blue sky, enjoying every second of the peace she could get without having a loud brother ruin perfect silences. Twenty minutes of walking passed too soon. Katara stared at the library entrance, regretting her well developed habits of not procrastinating, the reason being it prevented her from staying outside longer. She hesitantly sat down in a crowded room next to a middle-aged man who uncomfortably shifted in his seat while eying her. _I really don't wanna be here._

As the time went by, the people in the crowded room started to retire one by one, letting Katara- the last one remaining- have the room to herself.

"Miss?" A lady in her late 50's gently tapped on the door. "We're about to close, please wrap it up."

"Okay, I won't be too long." Katara politely smiled before packing up her things. _It's 9 already?_

Katara, who dialed the number to home, waited for a response. No answer. She tried her dad's cell, but comparble to the first, no answer. She waited before calling again. Still: no answer. _I guess I'm walking home. _

* * *

_I __hate my teachers._

Similar to a certain brown-haired girl's feelings, Zuko grudgingly stood in a library aisle, ready to rip out his hair because he couldn't find the book he needed for his project. _Standing here isn't going to help. _He gave up- it was just going to waste time, so instead, he decided to start on another portion of work, eventually getting so absorbed that even time wasn't the issue.

"Dude, the library's closing. Wrap it up." Zuko looked up at a guy he recognized as a senior who went to the same school.

"Okay." _Already?_

He stood up and left the building, unaware that a girl he had saved three weeks earlier was only a few feet behind him, going in the same direction. When he thought somebody was following him, he threateningly turned, getting ready to pound on his stalker. He relaxed and grinned.

_Ohmygod I'm scared I'm scared I'm scared. I don't wanna walk home! _Katara shivered.

"And I thought you've learned your lesson about walking home in the dark."

She could feel a smile run across the voice's face. She froze. A chill ran down her spine. _Fuck. No, not now. Please. _

The figure stepped closer to her, but she didn't take a step back.

_No, this voice isn't one of the ones that tried to hurt me. _

"I wouldn't want to save your butt again."

Katara's cheeks grew pink, but luckily the darkness of the night concealed her embarrassment.

"Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"My uncle."

When the figure stepped under the light, her draw dropped and her eyes bulged out of her head.

"Wait, that was YOU?!" She menacingly spat.

The 'arrogant jerk' chuckled. Zuko wasn't surprised. "That's a pretty harsh thing to say to somebody who saved your life." Well that caught her off guard.

"I-I'm sorry. I just didn't think you were the type who would save somebody's life."

"And why is that?" He liked messing with this girl.

_Perfect, now every time i see him, I'm gonna feel extremely awkward._

"So... I was asleep in your bed?" She nervously shifted her weight on both feet, anticipating for the worst, even though she already knew the right answer.

"Uh... yeah."Zuko's eyes darted from side to side, now becoming uncomfortable.

_We just produced a gay baby. _(HAHAH DO YOU GUYS GET IT? X) wow im lame.)

"Anyway, I better get going.." Katara was outrageously flushed. _I need to get out of here. _

Zuko saw her receding figure fade away in the darkness, not really having an idea of what to do, but his body moved without consulting his brain and he found himself running after the girl.

"But wait, I'm pretty sure you're scared to walk home by yourself. I'll go with you."

"Thanks, but no thanks." She did not need this asshole to be taunting her.

Zuko smiled. "I guess you're just asking for it then," and walked away, waiting for her to call after him.

"Er.. wait." He turned. "Actually, could you walk me home?" She said In a feeble, barely audible voice.

"Hn." Satisfied, he took her hand and pulled her close the whole way. She didn't even pull back! :D :D :D :D

* * *

When the pair reached the front porch of Katara's house, the uncomfortable silence came again.

Zuko shifted his feet.

Katara looked at the ground.

"I... uhh..." Zuko looked for something to say. "Didn't get your name. What was it?"

"katara." She smiled up at him as she gazed up at his eyes unknowingly.

He found himself gazing right back, stepping closer, again, unknowingly.

"I'm Zuko."

"I know." She caught herself before taking another step closer to him, happy that she her brain still functioned enough.

"Well, you should probably get going.."_Why the hell am I still standing here? I'm not expecting anything to happen.._

Katara snapped herself out of the spell he supposedly put on her and got her keys out to open the door.

"Yeah.. see you around?"

"See ya." He turned to walk off her porch.

"Zuko, wait." He stopped and did what he was told.

"Thank you."

She watched him walk past her driveway and into the night. _He's so dreamy. _She mentally slapped herself. _HA! not in a million years._ (Yeah Katara, keep telling yourself that..)

* * *

_I can't sleep. Wonderful. _

She sat up in bed, frustrated about the fact that one boy could cause her so many sleeping problems. Katara replayed the events that happened to her earlier that night, picturing his perfect features, hearing his calm voice, and mentally slapping herself **again** before vowing she wouldn't fall for the biggest 'jerk' on the planet.

* * *

_I can't sleep. _

Zuko opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling, picturing the girl he had saved willingly, and thinking about when the next time they would talk would be. How could one girl cause him so many sleeping problems?

_Fuck it._

He got up from bed and went onto his balcony. The bright stars twinkled innocently while Zuko paced around, trying to forget about a brown-eyed girl.

* * *

Guysssssssss!

Did you like that chapter? I Hope so.

Read the next chapter to find out what happens:

On the next school day..


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 6: **Have we met before?

BEEP BEEP click

Katara's eyes had already been open- she had been up all night, contrary to what you would normally expect from taking sleeping pills at 1 a.m for two nights while damning a strange boy for depriving her of terrific sleep. She groaned. She felt... sluggish. reluctant. All because of not wanting to deal with him at school. Ugh, he made her so angry.

She decided to skip breakfast, concerning her lack of appetite, and not to mention, lack of properly getting dressed without walking outside of her room with her bra over her shirt. Thank god for Sokka.

"Uhh Katara, you don't look too good.."

"Shut up Sokka. I had a rough weekend." With that, she left for school. Just walking a quarter of a mile made her feel like dropping to the ground. By the time she got there, her backpack was falling off her back. Her arms dangled lifelessly as if they were made of rubber.

"Hey Katara!" Ty Lee's natural perkiness suddenly made Katara cranky.

"Huh." She guessed that was a valid answer.

"So, you ready for that math test? I have a feeling I'm totally going to ace it. I've been studying all weekend."

Katara's eyes shot open._ WHAT?! Shit! _

"Uhhhhh..."

Ty Lee stared at her zombie friend disbelievingly. "What happened to YOU?"

_Thud._ Katara had collapsed. Students from around dared to look, but Ty Lee gave them all a penetrating death glare that would kill if it could.

She desperately wavered a hand in front of her friend's face. "Fuck, get up! Do you want me to take you to the office?"

Katara simply slapped the attempt." Noo.. I'll go to class..."

* * *

"Class, I want each of you to take out a pencil and an eraser. NO calculators allowed." She couldn't understand Mr Larkin. It sounded like a bunch of slurs to her.

Fortuitously, Suki was an angel that sat right next to Katara, who took out an extra pencil and eraser for her friend. When the door opened, she didn't look up until she heard girls swooning and sighing after seeing the groggy, dreary face of a familiar boy, Zuko.

"Katara!" She vigorously shook her friend. "It's the hot guy!" Then, she reconsidered. "Er.. not so hot anymore.."

Mr Larkin quirked an eyebrow. "Can I.. help you?"

Zuko slowly made his way over to the teacher. "Uhhhhh..." He and Katara seemed to have this in common when they were tired. "Yeah, I have a note from my teacher."

The teacher took the note, nodding over to the empty desk near the middle of the room, which Zuko gratefully flopped into. "Perfect timing- looks like you're taking your test in here." He sunk in his seat.

Mr Larkin questioningly looked at Katara as he handed her the test paper. When she didn't look up, he shrugged it off and moved onto the next person.

Katara blankly stared at the test. _I don't even know what it's saying! I'm gonna fail..  
_

Zuko sighed. He hadn't studied for this test at all. To be honest, he hadn't even remembered he was having it, so now, he was screwed, barely able to think about what his parents might say or what would happen to his perfect-mark reputation.

Mr Larkin handed him the test paper, which he uneaglerly took, but grinned when he saw how easy it looked. _I ace every test. Why should this be any different?_

* * *

_Brinnnnggggg!_ The bell. Students started packing up. Katara and Suki were the first to dash out of the living nightmare. Zuko had seen her but needed to finish packing, so he hoped to bump into them outside.

"That test was REALLY easy!" It's nice to know somebody who actually studied for a test. Suki: goody two shoes at home or in class, spaz everywhere else.

Katara didn't need to hear this. She probably answered every question incorrectly for all she knew. Seriously- Suki was not helping.

Suki probably got the vibe and changed the subject. "Did you see that guy who got transferred into our class? I tried to tell you but you were like, spacing out."

Katara finally started to have a normal conversation, but all her words were slurred together. "I didn't see him.. who was it?"

When the two girls came into view, Zuko tried not to laugh. Katara's expression was hilarious. Also, he didn't seem tired anymore.

"There he is!"Suki pointed at somebody coming in their direction. "And he's coming in our direction."

* * *

Mai and Ty Lee met up by the girl's bathroom, just like any other day, before meeting up with the others for brunch.

"MAI! MAI! MAI! I'm really worried about Katara. She collapsed this morning!" Ty Lee was frantically waving her hands around.

"Really?!"

"Yeah, and she was totally dead too!"

"Oh my god.. but she's fine now, right?"

"I hope so.."

The two were walking in a different route today because Ty Lee wanted to get away from Sarah.

"Is that Katara?"

Mai looked to where Ty Lee was addressing to. At first, she couldn't quite understand how Ty Lee could mistaken such a tired mess as their somewhat vain friend, but as they inched closer, the person ended up as Katara. She was with Suki.

* * *

"I think you should straighten up. He's looking at you."

Katara wasn't going to. She was way too out of it. She and Suki stood there, anxiously waiting to find out what would happen within the next 5 minutes.

"Hey," Zuko said."You look.. different."

Katara fumed. She instantly snapped out of her zombie trance. "What's that supposed to mean?! It's not like I could ever peacefully sleep ever since-" She cut herself off. _Whoa there, why am I so mad? When i'm mad, I'm reckless. When I'm reckless, I' do stuff I'll regret later. _

Even though she didn't finish, Zuko knew exactly what she was talking about. "Ever since you almost-" A hand covered his mouth. It was Katara's.

_What are they talking about?! _Suki was really curious. She was more like an observer in this situation, because Katara and Zuko were off in their own world.

"Don't say anything," Katara hissed in a gruesome whisper, while almost pushing him over with a pounce.

"Uh... what's going on?" The three turned around to meet two questioning faces.

Mai saw Zuko and Katara with each other. She didn't say anything, but narrowed her eyes, almost ready to rip them apart.

Suki stood there uncomfortably, wanting to be anywhere but here. Her eyes darted from side to side nervously.

Katara was the most embarrassed of the five. Not only was she pushing Zuko over, but her hand was over both Zuko's mouth and nose, so he couldn't breathe. He tried to pry her hand off of him, but she thought it was because he wanted to say something- not because he couldn't breathe. She jumped back after giving him a final glare that said 'don't say anything'.

"Haha, heyy!" Katara akwardly waved.

_That's the girl! _Finally, Zuko had acknowledged Mai's presence and made the connection with the girl from a few weeks earlier. He intensely flushed, suddenly A. desperate to get out of there, and B. wanting to take her with him.

"Uhhhh.. I've gotta go. Catch you later, katara." He strode off.

"Wait, how do you two know each other?" Suki was sharp. That was exactly the question Katara wanted to avoid. Thank god Zuko wasn't here to tell the truth.

"You talked to him?! You said you've never spoken to him. Liar. "Okay, Suki's question/comment wasn't accusing at all. Mai's was incredibly intimidating.

"Well, I.." Katara had no idea what to say. She didn't want to tell them about what had happened to her.

"You know, up close, he's kinda cute." Ty Lee nodded approvingly. "Katara, do you... like him?" She slyly poked Katara. Secretly, Katara knew Ty Lee just said this to help stop the accusations. She played along.

Mai panicked. Her heart raced at a million beats a second.

"ZUKO?! I hate him! No way. Never."

Mai relaxed. Now, she wouldn't have to destroy Katara's reputation. It was too much trouble anyway.

"Stop talking about Zuko. Let's go. " Mai didn't WANT to sound like such a snobbish brat, but it kind of came out in that tone, much to her dismay. Not.

"Yeahh.."

"Sure."

"Kay."

The four girls made their way to the spot they always meet up for brunch, finding Toph tapping her feet impatiently, scowling at the tardiness of Ty Lee, Katara, and Mai. With only a couple minutes to spare, the four caught up on gossip that happened over the weekend.

* * *

Omg everybody. I'm sorry about the delayed uploads, and the untidiness of this chapter. I'll make it up to you by uploading EXTRA fast with BETTER diction :

I'm also not sure about how long I want to keep up with this story. I might start another one. It depends on how many reviews you guys give me.. so R&R x


	8. Chapter 8

* * *

Here are some things you might not understand:

OMFG: oh my fucking god.

ALSKFLKSNFLSKNF: Just some random stuff you say when you're frustrated and have nothing else to say. There's no real spelling. It's just like pounding on your keyboard.

O.O: A face. A bewildered expression.

Oh, and I'm REALLY sorry if anybody was offended by the joke. I'm not really racist or discriminating against anybody!

R&R! Hope you enjoyed this seemingly pointless (BUT IT REALLY ISNT. YOULL SEE LATER.) long chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 8: **I don't want you to go.

_What to do, what to do?_

Katara heavily sat on her bed, disturbed that she was completely exhausted, but had no desire to sleep. She was bored. Majorly. She took out her laptop, ready to catch up with friends on AIM. An IM box popped up spontaneously.

ZKboy14: Hey.

Katara's heart jumped. She sat there for a second, unwilling to respond, but decided to anyway.

Katara08sayss: ..Zuko? _Creepy much._

ZKboi14: Haha, yeah. sorry.

Katara08sayss: Why am I talking to you?

ZKboi14: I need to ask you a question.

ZKboi14: Why didn't you want your friends to know about what happened to you?

Katara08sayss: It's complicated.

ZKboi14: I have time.

Katara08sayss: I don't.

ZKboi14: Aw... don't be like that.. ;)

_He's teasing me now. Ugh. I'm gonna sign off.  
_

Katara08sayss: Why do you want to know?

ZKboi14: Why won't you tell me?

Katara08sayss: omfg.

Katara08sayss: ALSKFLKSNFLSKNF.

ZKboi14: Uhh.

Katara08sayss: FINE. I'll tell you. If it'll get you to shut up.

ZKboi14: It will.

Katara08sayss: Good.

ZKboi14: hahaha. I'm waiting.

* * *

"Mai, what's up? You've barely spoken ever since today at brunch," Toph said.

"It's nothing." It was true. Ever since the ungainly walk-in on Katara's attack on Zuko, she hasn't been acting like herself.

"Come on. Do you really expect me to believe that?"

"No really, it's nothing."

"Bu-"

"IT'S NOTHING!" Mai was unreasonably furious at Toph, which made everybody stiff.

"I want ice cream." Almost everybody. Ty Lee had a knack for doing that. She was extremely happy-go-lucky at the moment, plus, a grin slowly spread across her cute face. "Hey guys, wanna hear a joke?"

"Sure."

"Why not?"

"Okay... sooo... what do you call a Mexican on the moon?"

Mai rolled her eyes, not really wanting to guess the answer, so she let Toph do the work.

"Uhmmm... I don't know.. what?"

Ty Lee's smile grew bigger. "A problem."

"Okayy.. I don't see-"

"What do you call 20 Mexicans on the moon?" Ty Lee giggled.

"Uh, a bigger problem?"

"YEAHHH!"

-silence-

Ty Lee was turning a little bit red. She could barely say, "Now, what do you call ALL THE MEXICANS IN THE WORLD on the moon?!"

-silence-

"Gee Ty Lee, I don't know." Toph was losing her patience while Mai was rolling her eyes.

"PROBLEM SOLVED!"

-silence-

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA."

_She rolled over. What the hell. _

Mai looked at her watch. Ty Lee was still laughing. At her own joke.

"HAHAHHA-I CAN'T BREATHE-HAHAHAHA- OW MY ABS- HAHAA"

O.O

"What are you laughing at?" Toph finally demanded an answer. "It wasn't that funny!"

"HAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHA"

"What the fuck?" Mai stepped in, also perplexed.

"HAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHHAA"

"Mai, maybe we should leave her in this room for a while."

"Yeah, right behind you."

The two girls darted out the room, closing the door behind them, but listening at the door, stifling their own laughter. When the noise inside the room didn't cease, they went downstairs to the living room.

Somebody stepped in front of them. "May I be of service?" The butler had a British accent, which was strange because Mai was Asian.

Toph looked at Mai.

"Pete, take us to the large freezer."

"Very well." The Butler started heading out of the room, through the mini hallway, past an abnormally large office room, and at last, coming to the kitchen, where a large refrigerator stood slightly taller than 6 feet. He pulled out some kind of freezer.

"Which kind?" Mai pushed Toph towards the butler. With every step, her mouth began to water more, her eyes sparkled brighter with pure delight. There were at least 3 boxes filled with different flavors of her favorite ice cream.

"This is the best ice cream ever," Toph managed to utter between bites of ice cream.

In the room, Ty Lee stopped laughing instantly when she heard the words 'ice cream', and her ears perked up. From downstairs, the two could hear a distinct rumbling sound which was unidentified until the sound of Ty Lee's footsteps entered the room they were in.

"Ooooh! I want ice cream!"

* * *

ZKboi14: I see.

Katara08sayss: Yeah. So don't tell anybody.

_Knock. _Zuko turned his head to see his butler at the door.

"Sorry for the interruption, but dinner's ready."

"I'll be down in a sec." _I can't believe my parents are forcing me to stay at our mansion with a bunch of servants. I like it better at Uncle's.  
_

ZKboi14: Dinner.

Katara08sayss: WAIT ZUKO!

_User ZKboi14 is not available. Last message was not received._

"BITCH!" Katara screamed at her laptop.

_Knock knock knock.  
_

"Uhh.. Katara, dinner's ready. Dad wants to talk to us."

_I've been talking to Zuko for that long?!_

"Okay. I'm coming."

She speedily shut off her laptop. When she stepped outside, her brother was waiting for her at the door, looking at her with intense emotion in his face, but she didn't exactly know why.

"What?"

His face softened. "Katara...please don't get upset with whatever dad has to say.."

_With whatever dad has to say? _

"Sure Sokka."

She followed him downstairs to the kitchen, where her father was sitting at the table in front of the food, sipping his tea patiently. When the two siblings sat down, they glanced at each other, not knowing what to say. The family began to eat spaghetti in silence until Hakoda spoke up.

"Katara, Sokka, what did you guys do today?" Sokka watched his dad use the fork to spin the flexible noodle covered in sauce around.

"Uh, go to school?" Katara felt a little weird, not because her father asked an obvious question, but because she had a feeling something happened.

"Oh, right."

"Dad, what did you want to tell me and katara?" Sokka was reaching for seconds of spaghetti before Katara was even half way finished.

"Ahh. Yes." He cleared his throat, eying his children carefully, as if they were little kids being told about santa not being real. "I got.."He paused. "I got.. promoted at my job."

"That's wonderful, dad!" Katara clapped her hands. When she made eye contact with Sokka, she mouthed 'why would I be upset?' to Sokka.

He mouthed back 'I don't know. Nevermind.'

"Wait. There's more." The siblings looked at their father again, this time, starting to get fidgety to hear the next set of good news.

"What? Come on! You're killing me dad," Sokka lightly laughed.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"My job.." Hakoda shifted in his chair, now hesitant to tell them the news. "Requires me to go to Europe to work.."

Both of his childrens' faces fell as soon as he said those words.

Nobody said anything. They all just stared at their food.

The clock ticked.

With a scratchy voice, Katara asked a question she already knew the answer to. "So.. you accepted?"

"Yes," he replied solemnly.

"So that's it? We're moving?" Everybody could hear Sokka's tone rising with anger, but didn't say anything to calm him down.

Katara's head snapped up, terrified of what the answer was. Her eyes began to water, even though she tried to force them back. She could feel her throat tightening at the thought.

_I can't move!_

"No, you're not moving. I am." Hakoda began to explain the situation. "I'm going to Europe for my business, but you two are staying here to finish school."

It was bad either way. Katara couldn't imagine living life without another parent; it was tough enough to get by everyday without her mother by her side.

"When are you coming back?" Sokka pressed Hakoda further.

"I.. I don't know."

Katara knew she had told Sokka she wouldn't be upset, but this was too much to handle. A loud scoot of her chair penetrated the silence of the room, followed by her quiet footsteps running up the stairs, and her room door slamming shut.

"Katara!" Sokka jumped up, attempting to go after her, but a calm hand on his shoulder told him to sit down.

She jumped onto her bed, this time not bothering to hold back tears that dropped onto her light colored sheets.

* * *

"When are you leaving?"

"Wednesday morning."

"That's the day after tomorrow.."

"I know."

"Who's going to take care of us?"

"I called your aunt, Kya's sister. She's coming to stay in the guest room anytime she'd like to check up on you guys, but I told her to come at least once a week. I've hired a cook to get groceries and cook dinner every day. I'm sending money once a month. In addition to everything, the neighbors have agreed to take care of anything you need."

The information slowly sunk in to Sokka. "You didn't find out about the promotion today."

"No, I didn't.. I just didn't want to tell anybody until now."

The serious atmosphere disintegrated for a moment when Sokka realized something of the 'upmost importance'. "Ha, you know, dad, since you're gonna be gone, and i'm the oldest, it would make sense that in a very tradgic rare occasion, I should be the one-"

"Sokka." _Don't do it Hakoda, I'm warning you! Don't do it! "_ You can be in charge when there's no adult around."_ Oh dear. What have I just done?  
_

"YES!"

"But with great privilege comes great responsibility. I'm trusting you to study hard, keep the house in order, take care of any-"

"Yeah, yeah dad. As long as I'm in charge, what could possibly go wrong?"

_A lot. _

"You're right. You're my son! You take after me. Nothing could go wrong."

Sokka gleamed in front of Hakoda for what seemed like an eternity before he thought about Katara again.

"I'm gonna go check up on Katara."

He started to head up, but a very stern voice stopped him.

"No. I think I should."

Sokka nodded. It was going to be one of the 'father-daughter moments'. He decided to call Suki up to tell her the news.

* * *

"Katara?" A head poked inside of her room quietly, as if not to disturb anybody. He saw her on her bed, not moving, but decided to come in anyway."I know you're upset. You have every right to be, but I just wanted to tell you that nothing's going to change. You're still going to be my little girl." He lightly stroked her hair, waiting for a response. When none came, he continued. "I'm coming home as often as I can. For every holiday. I won't miss a single one. And i'll call every single day to talk to both you and Sokka."

Katara's head turned slightly as she sat up, wiping her tears away, trying to look as if she wasn't crying. "Promise?" Her voice cracked.

"I promise." He moved closer to her as she threw her arms around him, trying to hold on to him as if that would keep him from leaving.

"Good. You need to leave me a whole bunch of contact numbers in case of emergency, though."

Hakoda chuckled at the thought of how he didn't even give her any responsibilities yet and she was already asking for contact info, contrary to Sokka, who thought he could party all day long. "That reminds me. I told Sokka that he was in charge, but we both know he's the one who's gonna end up acting like a 5 year old."His smile grew wider.

"Okay dad. I'll keep him out of trouble for you." She and her father laughed at Sokka behind his back.

* * *

"I was thinking once the old man leaves, you and I could come here... and cuddle all night."

"Oh really?" The voice on the other line was barely audible, but could be heard as Suki.

"Uh huhh.." Sokka had a huge flirtacious smile on his face that would probably creep out any girl who came near him, so luckily, Suki wasn't in front of him.

"And what makes you think I'd want to go over there and cuddle?"

Sokka's smile disappeared. The moment was destroyed.

"WHAT?! WHY! But I'm so... cuddable!" Sokka was feeling a little self conscious now.

"Chill, Sokka. Stop having such a panic attack. I'm just saying, I'd rather go over there and make sure everything's okay."

* * *

"Ughhhh.. I'm... Too... full..." Ty Lee was lying on the floor, ready to barf. She and Toph had finished ALL the ice cream without anybody else's help.

"Cant...eat..anymore!" Toph tossed her spoon aside, joining Ty Lee in the activity of lying down on the floor, ready to belch.

"Wow. I can't believe you guys finished ALL of it." Mai had sat through it all. She watched the tubs of ice cream go one by one. Realizing how much power she had in this situation, she was determined to abuse it. "So.. how does all that fat feel in your stomach?"

"NO! Stop... Please...!" Ty Lee knew what Mai was trying to do. There was no way she was going to let Mai make her barf.

"But.. you must feel REALLY sick with all that HEAVY, CREAMY, FAT in your stomach."

"Mai, I'm gonna kill you!!" Toph wasn't feeling that great, so when she attempted to get up, Mai didn't flinche because Toph simply moved a foot and fell back down.

A gagging sound came from Ty Lee. Both friends looked over, and she looked entirely green.

"Toph, that's so unattractive!"

"Well Ty Lee, your face color doesn't exactly look like it's in the right shade either." Toph stuck her tongue out at Ty Lee.

Another gagging noise.

"Walk it off, walk it off. Both of you. Go. Now."

"Too.. Fat...!" Ty Lee's stomach was pretty lage at the moment. Same with Toph's.

"Too bad. I'll get somebody to help you guys get up." She took a deep breathe, and "PEEEEEEETTTTEEEEEEEEEE!"

Moments later, the butler appeared at the door, looking out of breath from running across the humongous house in 30 seconds. "Y-you...called...M-M-M-"

"Save your breath. I need these two to get up. I think you should call at least 3 maids to help." Toph looked incredibly offended, but Mai just smiled innocently.

* * *

As the butler was taking away Zuko's plate in the empty dining hall, Zuko drank his water, thinking about his parents in Japan.

"Excuse me," The butler stepped into the room. "I just received a letter from Japan addressed to you."

"Thank you." Zuko nodded in appreciation, while curiously taking the letter. "Oh, and John, please feel free to take the rest of the night off."

"If you insist." With a bow, the butler gratefully left the room.

The letter was from Ursa, his mother. He urgently opened the envelope.

_Dearest Zuko, _

_I'm sorry I haven't written to you in many days. The business is keeping your father and I insanely busy with work. How's school? I miss you very much. When work isn't so hectic, I'll be sure to buy a ticket and come home to visit you and Azula. _

_Have you thought about inheriting the business from your father yet? It would make him extremely happy. I know you will make a wise decision with your life, so please, don't feel like you need to hurry._

_ Are the maids I hired any good? Tell me if you want a new set of maids- I'd be happy to find them for you. If you need anything else, tell me. _

_I know I'm not doing my job as your mother to watch you grow up and live your life like a normal kid, but I'll give you anything you want, in hopes that it will replace what I cannot give you. Also, your father requests that you stay at the mansion we bought, to separate you and Azula until her temper becomes well again. _

_Love always,_

_You're mother, Ursa_

_P.S There's a check of 2,000 dollars in the envelope. Spend it on whatever you want! _(:

Zuko closed his eyes, picturing his mother's gentle face the last time she was visiting- he was 11 years old. It was before his father told him about the business, when Azula was still his cute baby sister, when everything was perfect. Sighing, he stood up, tucked the envelope in his pocket, and went to shower.

* * *

"Wow Mai, I feel great! That was a good workout." Ty Lee's stomach when completely flat again. She did a cartwheel to prove her point.

"I'm so sore.." Toph rubbed her arm and cracked her neck, grossing out her friends in the process.

"Glad to hear." Mai smiled at her two friends that were once dying of ice cream overload.

"I think I should be going home now.."

"Me too."

"Uh right, I'll call my driver."

* * *

"Goodnight. I love you." Hakoda gave Katara a peck on the cheek, ruffled her hair, and flicked off the lights.

"You too."

* * *

Let's cut me some slack and say that it's 9 hours later x)

* * *

"So I've graded your tests." Mr Larkin looked up at his class with an unreadable expression. The class groaned.

Katara mouthed 'I failed' to Suki, who only replied with a 'It's okay'.

"But.. I have to say, I was very impressed with the high scores. There were only two grades below A." Now, his expression was clearly pleased with himself for 'teaching so well'. "You'll get these back while working on page 157, questions 3-48, multiples of three."

Again, the class whined about having to do work after a test, indisposedly taking out their materials before Mr Larkin got angry. The room was extremely silent, that if somebody were to flip a page, the noise would echo throughout the room, distracting somebody in the midst of solving a problem, thus creating a tension where nobody wanted to move the slightest bit.

When Mr Larkin came to give Katara's paper back, she tightly closed her eyes, waiting for the impact of 'tsking' from her teacher. When it didn't come, she was shocked to hear a 'good job', and even more shocked to see a big fat A+ circled in red at the top.

"B-but... I.." She was awestruck; nothing could come out of her mouth. _Is this some joke?_

* * *

_Hah. I got a 99. That's pretty good for not studying at all. _Opposite to Katara, Zuko wasn't at all suprised at his high grade on the math test. In fact, he expected to get at least a 95.

"I congradulate everybody who received a grade higher than 80- this test was extremely hard. Luckily, almost all of you received an A, which is good news, because this is a big portion of the first semester grade. " Mr Larkin heard the students sigh in relief. "All who did well will be rewarded with good news later today."

The class clown in the back of the room raised his hand.

"What do you want, kevin?"

"Is this homework?" A few kids snickered at his remark, which just caused Mr Larkin to give him 'the look'.

"Kevin, whatever you don't finish in class is always homework."

"Oh, yeah, cause' since we all got A's I-"

_Brrrrrrinngg! _

"Everybody, give your tests to me before you leave this room! If I don't get your test back, you get a 0."

A swarm of students mercilessly threw the tests at the teacher while walking out of the door, but Mr Larkin took them without saying anything. Poor him.

katara was putting her binder in her black-white designer backpack, with Suki by her side, enduring the glacial pace. A blurry figure from the side of Katara's eyes was coming towards them, but she wasn't aware that the figure belonged to somebody she least wanted to see.

"Katara," Suki whispered. "It's Zuko again."

_Crap, what does he want now? _Her arm abruptly lifted a book to block her face, while she desperately tried to get out of the room, or at least, away from him. "Gotta go, sorry. Call you later."

Suki didn't have a chance to respond because Katara was gone in a blink of an eye. _Well that's a nice thing to do to somebody who's waited for you. Not. _

"Hey, Suki." Zuko attempted to smile- he didn't succeed, but it was cute anyway.

"Haha, hey. Whatsup?"

_He's so strange._

"Uhmm.. do you know where Katara went?"

_She probably went to hide in the girl's bathroom. Should I tell him? No, Katara would get mad. _"Actually, no. I don't. I'm sorry." She tried to give him a convincing look, which didn't work out for her, due to her lack of action, but obviously, he did the polite thing and nodded anyway.

"Oh. Okay, see you around."

* * *

Katara stared at the mirror as she placed her hands on the sides of the sink, with her hair falling over her face. Her eyes began to water. _What's wrong with me? I get so upset with him for no reason at all.._

A toilet flushed. Katara looked up at the mirror, hoping to see the reflection of the person who had heard her earlier.

The person had thick, dark hair that was in a messy bun, with bold bangs framing a pale face. Katara's face panicked at first. But then, she wiped her eyes and smiled.

"Katara? What's wrong?" Mai washed her hands.

"It's nothing. I was just..." Before she could finish, she started to actually cry. Now her words were almost uncomprehensible; her face was buried in Mai's shoulder.

"It's okay. Just.. tell me what happened."

"I need a tissue." Mai ran to the toilet, grabbed a wad of toilet paper, and stuffed Katara's nose in it, causing her to laugh. "Hahaha, thanks." An ugly noise soon erupted from Katara's nose, filling the empty bathroom, sounding like an angry elephant. "Better."

Mai tried not to plug her ears in disgust. When she looked up, their eyes met, causing laughter to break the silence.

"Now, tell me what happened." She led Katara outside the bathroom to sit down on a bench so they could talk.

"It's.." Katara swallowed hard before saying his name. "Zuko."

Mai looked down at her lap. "Oh. What happened?"

"I don't know.. he's.. frustrating."

"I wouldn't know.. he doesn't talk to me."

Katara looked up at her friend, now forgetting her own crisis.

"Do you _want_ him to talk to you?"

_You can't trust anybody. Mai bit her lip, trying to think of what to say. "No."_

Later that day...

"The teachers have decided to reward you for studying hard." Ms Lanterman gleefully clapped her hands together. "You probably heard about this by now. All of the ninth graders who received an 80 or above on the math finals test," she explained with her voice pitch rising with every word, "will be attending a 1 night, 2 day vacation in a luxury hotel! Of course, after the permission slips are signed."

"Are you SERIOUS?!" Toph saw one of the cheerleaders, Kayla, jump from her seat. "So you mean like, we won't get any work or anything, and it's just a free vacation?"

Ms Lanterman jumped on her high, pink prada shoes. "YEEES!"

Right when she said that word, all the students began their private chatter. She decided to use this time pass out permission slips. "Guys," Ms Lanterman tried to talk over the loud conversations, "Have these back by monday! I'd like to get to my vacation."

"Why don't you look happy at all, Toph?" Kelly, one of the perky preps, asked out of pure curiosity.

"It's weird. It seems too wild." She knew Kelly didn't understand when she cocked her head to the side.

"You don't want to go?" Kelly giggled, but Toph knew that it wasn't necessarily friendly.

"No, I do. Nevermind. I was being silly."

"Yeah."

A high pitched whistle that came from Ms Lanterman broke the conversations of the students. "I need everybody's attention! I just have to go through the rules of the vacation first."

The luxury vacation. The room became dead silent.

"Look at the third page of the permission slip." She waited for the students to fumble through the packet. "At the top of the page, it says students will be assigned a roommate." They groaned. She grinned. "Cross that part out." She heard the students celebrate with themselves, then continued on. "Now, this is extremely tricky. You need to find a partner to be you're roommate, and write it on the permission slip. Also, if a name appears on multiple slips, then that person will be roomed randomly, so make sure everybody understands that you need ONE partner." She looked up at the class to see if there were any questions.

"What if you don't have a partner?" One of the shy girls asked quietly.

"If you don't have a partner, you will be assigned with another person without a partner." Ms Lanterman nodded at the girl, with an expression that said 'you're in my class?'

Toph began to think about who her partner would be. Ty Lee, maybe. Or Mai.

"You must sit with your partner on the bus to reduce the amount of confusion when people are getting their keys. As for what to pack, make sure you pack at least ONE jacket. The rooms have adjustable thermostats, so it doesn't really matter what you bring to sleep in. Bring any medications you need but please let the staff know beforehand. As you can see, everything I've just said is in the packet, so read the rest for homework, get your parents to sign it, and bring it back BY MONDAY."

"What happens if you don't bring it back by Monday?"

"If the staff finds the trip too difficult to manage, they will cancel it. It's best to just prevent that from happening, right?" Ms Lanterman winked at her student.

(Let's pretend there's a line here. My computer won't let me do the line thingy to switch scenes.)

Katara paced around her room after she got home from getting a drink with her friends at the cafe down the road. It was 5:57.

_Dad will be home in 3 minutes. Just 3 minutes. _

She tried hard to not think about how slow time was passing by.

_Think. Think. Think about something funny._

Zuko's gorgeous face came up.

_No! That's not funny! GO AWAYYY! _

She heard the front door close downstairs. "DAAAAD! DAD DAD DAD DAD DAAD!!"

Footsteps started to hurry up the stairs, towards her room. Thee door opened. "KATARA KATARA KATARA KATARA! GOD. See how annoying that gets?!" He laughed. "I'm just joking, kid. Whatsup?"

"Can you sign this?" Katara forced the packet into Hakoda's hands. "It's from school. I need this to be signed before you leave for Europe tomorrow."

He looked at the front.Huh. Somehow, it didn't seem like a good idea. "What is this for?"

"Just read the packet. It says everything in it."

Hakoda shrugged and went downstairs to finish reading the packet. Katara called up Ty Lee, impatiently waiting for the dial tone to be replaced with her friend.

"Hello?"

"TY LEE! I just got my dad to look at the packet. I'm so excited! This is gonna be so fun." Katara strained her ears to get a response. "Uh..Hello?" She distinctly heard sniffling on the other end.

"WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Ty Lee wailed into the phone so loudly that Katara needed to put it a foot away from her ear. "MY PARENTS SAID NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

DAMN! She knew it was too good to be true! They had it planned out and EVERYTHING. "WHAAAAAT?! WHY?!"

"BECAUUUUUUUUSEEE..."

From downstairs, a powerful voice called "KATARA! COME DOWNSTAIRS. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS."

"Shit. Gotta go, REALLY sorry." Katara ran down the stairs as fast as her legs could carry her.

"Yeah dad?"

She found him sitting the dining table with a serious look on his face. "It's about this ridiculous 'vacation'."

...

Just then, the doorbell ring. Katara went to answer it, annoyed that somebody could come at such a bad time.

It was Zuko.

He stood outside with a bunch of colorful flowers in his hand. The minute he saw her, and she saw him, they fell in love. They got married and had 3 kids. THE END.

(Pretend this is another one of those lines.)

HAHAHA. SORRY. I COULDNT RESIST. it is not THE END. These two have a big story ahead. I wouldnt end it. haha.

Yeah. Thats the end of this chapter. Minus the whole ending, with the doorbell and Zuko and having 3 kids.

Again, SORRY about the racist joke. It was supposed to be a mean, lame joke.

So yeah. This chapter sets the plot off. With Hakoda leaving, and with the vacation, and with Zuko and his parents.


	9. Chapter 9

Ahhh, even though the plot is starting in the next chapter, I don't know if I wanna continue

I have so many different ideas, but not for this particular story.

You could say I need advice. Or ideas. Or inspiration. I'll update soon, and might continue, depending on the amount of reviews on the next chapter.

Sorry!

And omfg i feel like such a retard right now. I was trying to add my new story, but i couldn't figure out how to do it without deleting my current story. So then, I figured out how to add it, but felt like deleting it because the first chapter was the first chapter in this story, so i had to delete the new story and start all over. But then i didn't know i deleted THIS ONE. So i panicked because i thought all my documents were gone! And then i had to reinstall my documents into the fanfic but my chapter names don't match the document number so it was really confusing. I'm rambling on right now so i guess i might as well tell you that i lost all my reviews and the next chapter will be up by tomorrow! Don't forget to review. Thanks!


	10. Chapter 10

Holy crap guys, I lost my reviews!

That means extra reveiwing for youuuu! Please? ;)

* * *

**Chapter 9: **The Vacation

"Katara, we're reaaaaally reaaally sorry!" Mai couldn't help but be extremely happy that she was the one who had a roommate.

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before."

"We love you!" Toph felt bad that Ty Lee couldn't be Katara's roommate because she couldn't go, but laughed as she said those three words to ease Katara's annoyance.

_Like this isn't getting annoying. _"Uh huh. Yeah. Sure."

"I'm sure you're roommate's gonna be awesome. If not, it's only one night!"

Katara looked out the window. If she sat alone, she wouldn't want to be bothered. If she sat with a friend, she would want to have a good conversation. Too bad she had neither. She sat alone AND couldn't enjoy the silence.

"HAHAH KATARA'S FACE IS SO FUNNY RIGHT NOW." Technically, it was true, but now wasn't a good time. "SHE LOOKS SO UNHAPPY HAHA."

_Okay Toph, I get it. You're amused by my annoyance. Now stop. ._

All the students stopped having their side conversations as they heard a microphone being tapped on.

"Everyone! Listen to what I have to say. You'll get to talk for another two hours when I'm finished." The bus moniter, Mrs Hembry, looked stressed while waiting for students to quiet down. "When we arrive there, be sure to HAVE YOUR PARTNER by your side. If you don't have one yet, you will go alone. Our bus and buses 1, 3, and 4 will also be in the same area to get the ROOM KEYS. Then, everybody goes back to the buses to get the backpacks. After that, you may go up to your rooms, but STAY in your rooms until 11:30. At 11:30, come down to the main lobby so we can explain the rules. If I find anybody outside of their rooms, they will be excluded from all activities later."

The whole time Mrs Hembry was talking, Toph was paying perfect attention. She listened to every important detail. Ten minutes later, Mrs Hembry was finished explaining everything.

"Wow, that's a complicated process." Toph turned to Mai, who looked really bored.

"What's a complicated process?"

"The one Mrs Hembry just explained."

"Mrs Hembry was talking?"

"...yes." Toph looked at Mai with a frustrated expression. "YOU WERE LOOKING AT HER THE WHOLE TIME! WEREN'T YOU LISTENING?"

In the back, Katara was eavesdropping on the funny conversation. That was so Mai: to look like she was listening, but really, not.

"Listening to what?" Mai still had a dead serious tone.

Toph gave up. "Nothing."

Katara turned to the boy behind her. "What time is it?"

"Uhhh.. about 8:25."

"Thanks."

_8:25. That means we'll get there at about 10:25, and it'll take about half an hour to get everything. I'll have half an hour to kill. _

* * *

Somebody's foot slammed into Katara's shin and jerked her out of a dream. The bright sun blinded her newly opened eyes, making her squint to see the lovely blue ocean waves hitting against a classy looking hotel.

Remembering the instructions, she stood up to get off the crowded bus. She saw students filing into lines with their roommate across the blacktop, ready to get room keys/numbers from the lobby.

When she got to the front- which didn't take long because she was in the front- Mrs Hembry handed her the key with a number on it.

"Stay in your room until about 11:30. Then, imediately head down for the MANDATORY welcome speech in the auditorium." She could hear Mrs Hembry talking to everybody in line.

_Floor D, room 29, it's the second floor. I wonder who my roommate's gonna be?_

Katara went back to the bus to pick her up her small backpack; she was a light packer.

* * *

_This is so boring. He's just talking about what kind of stuff we can or can't do. _

"And for you girls," A deep voice boomed, "We have day spas where you can get facials, manicures, you name it!" His voice thudded across the auditorium.

Zuko could hear girls jumping in excitement after hearing those words.

"For those of you who have no interest in these kinds of things," Zuko perked up. "There is a huge game room on floor B, along with an indoor pool and jacuzzi."

_Why is this guy's speech so long?!_

He looked at his cell phone. 11:20. This guy has been talking for twenty minutes.

"As for the meals, there is an open buffet you are welcome to anytime, but as long as you show a student ID. But I'll have you know that it is unhealthy for a child to consume more than needed, so please, respect yourselves." A huge grin was forced back on the man's face. "Last of all, I'd like to simply extend a warm welcome to all of you- Mariott Hurghada Beach Resort is your home for the night, so enjoy what we have to offer to your limit. Have a nice stay!"

The students erupted into an applause as the sounds of chatter and hoots poured out of the auditorium, splashing through the hallways, filling the hotel with wild disruption.

Zuko, being in the very back of the auditorium, was the first to stand. He had to get out of there- and fast. When Zuko's bus monitor, Mr Dour, saw him, Mr Dour searched through a pile of room key assignments to find the right one.

"Here's your room key. Make sure to stay in you room until 12:00."

"Thanks." He quickly walked over to the elevator. It took about 40 seconds before the door opened. He looked at his key that had a big fat D on the front.

* * *

Katara had just finished exploring the jaw dropping suite, which she had to share with just one other person. She regretted not bringing more things, because her closet was almost as big as her bed, which was queen sized, and it felt really empty without clothes. Then it hit her- there was only one bed. Does this mean they were _sharing? _

The alarm she set for 11:30 made her jump out of her thoughts, as she scurried out the door, asking herself why she hadn't set it five minutes earlier so she didn't have to rush.

To her relief, an elevator door had just opened, so she ran faster before it closed.

"Oof!" Katara slammed into a tall guy as she began to enter the fancy elevator. "Sorry," she muttered to the person who'd bumped into her, without looking to see who it was.

"You better be more careful. Who knows what kind of trouble you'd get into with that dumb head of yours."

She looked up. An unbelievably handsome boy with gelled raven hair was standing right in front of her. An unbelievable handsome boy, who just happened to have a personality Katara hated, as a matter of fact. Her eye twitched as soon as he smirked at her, AGAIN, due to unknown reasons.

"I'd love to stay and chat," she said bitterly, "but I have a speech to attend to." She stormed into the elevator with steam rising from her head. _AHHH HE MAKES ME SO MAD! _

Zuko simply smiled to himself. _Interesting._

* * *

_Where are they?!_

katara couldn't find her friends in the auditorium. Since the welcome speech was starting, she had to sit down to be polite.

_I guess I'm sitting by myself.. again. _

A few seconds after he started talking, she began to doze off.

* * *

The room was just as suspected. Luxurious, enormous, and all to himself. He threw his backpack into a closet without looking. The bathroom wasn't nearly as big as the one at home, but it was just as high class. He helped himself to a glass of apple cider at the open bar.

_Knock. Knock. _

Zuko opened the door, unsurprised to see Alex sneaking into his room.

"What are you doing here?"

"Dude, your room is HUGE. Let's switch." Alex was panting from sprinting into Zuko's room without a teacher catching him.

"Uhhh."

"Who's your roommate?" He already started to make himself at home by taking out some apple cider for himself."You have a fucking bar!"

"I don't have a roommate."

"WHAT?! We could've been ROOMMATES?!"Alex poked his head out of the bathroom he was awing at, completely taken back by the news.

"Moron." Zuko laid on his bed to watch a game of basketball on television.

"Whoaa! You're bathroom light turns on automatically!"

* * *

"Katara!" Toph and Mai were staring at her. "I know the seats are comfortable, but you don't SLEEP in them!"

"Is the speech over already?" Katara stretched.

"It's been over for like, ten minutes. Everybody's eating lunch now."

"Yeah, let's go. It's a buffet!"

Katara lost interest when she realized that everybody would be eating, meaning it would be crowded. "Well.. it's probably really crowded. Let's go later."

"Oh yeah.." Toph thoughtfully considered this.

"I'm not hungry." Mai was never hungry, so this comment had very little importance.

"So what do you guys wanna do?"

"I don't know."

"Well, I fell asleep so I have no idea what we CAN do."

"Let's go get a massage!" Toph rubbed her shoulder. "My back is so sore.."

"Which one takes the least amount of effort?" Mai asked.

"Probably a manicure," Toph quickly replied.

"You guys go ahead.. I think I'll go swimming or something."

"Are you sure?" Mai asked. "Noo.. come with us." Her tone wasn't convincing at all.

"No, it's okay. Go have fun! I'll have fun at the pool. I already have my swimsuit on underneath."

"Just come if you're not having fun, okay?" Toph was already heading to the spa area.

"Okay."

Katara looked at the directory section of her pamphlet. After oo-ing and aah-ing at all the activities, she decided the order of her day: 1) Lunch (she would just deal with the line if there was one), 2) Manicure, 3) Facial, 4) Massage, 5) Early Dinner, 6) Karaoke, 7) Swimming/Jacuzzi.

There wasn't a line to lunch at all. It turns out, all the students skipped lunch for fun. Katara showed a teacher her student ID so she could get a turkey sandwhich and a bottle of water.

The first bite of the turkey sandwich was delicious. She chewed it carefully, not wanting to mess up the flavor- not like it was possible.

"You gonna sing tonight?" A voice behind her asked. She turned around to see Jet, one of the huge flirts of the school.

"I don't know," She said with her mouth full.

He sat down at the table across from her, which suddenly made her feel self conscious- she wasn't used to people watching her eat, so she stopped.

"You should." He grinned, sending butterflies to her stomach.

Katara slowly wiped her mouth on a napkin. "I'll think about it."

"Good." He stood up.

"What?" Katara was somewhat disappointed that he only came to ask a question.

"Good, that you're singing, I mean." He laughed.

"Oh. I didn't- er- I..right." Katara couldn't believe she was making such an idiot out of herself.

* * *

"I wonder if Katara's really gonna spend this free vacation at a pool." Toph said through her mask, unable to look at Mai because of the cucumbers on her eyes.

"Hmm." Mai was lying on her stomach, as a woman in her late 40-s massaged her back.

"What have we not done yet?"

"Uhh.. we've only gotten facials, massages, and manicures. But we have tomorrow too." Mai's face was pressed against a towel, so she couldn't enunciate properly.

"That's true."

"Helloo!" Katara plopped herself down on a chair next to Toph.

"Is that you, Katara?"

"Yep."

"Glad you could join us." Mai looked up at her.

"Glad to see you're enjoying yourself." She laughed. "Should I start with a facial or a manicure?"

* * *

"Zuko, seriously. You can't waste your vacation watching TV!"Alex was basically whining at Zuko, who just had his eyes glued to the basketball game.

"Yes I can."

"Well I cant! LET'S GOOO!"

"No."

Alex, now frustrated, started pacing the room to think of a clever way to get his stubborn friend off of the bed. "Yeah, you're right. Because, you know, we both know who would win."

"And who's that, dumbass?"

"Me!" Alex happily sat down on the floor to watch the basketball game.

Zuko snapped out of his 'basketball phase' to glare at his friend. "Take that back."

"Hold on hold on, this is important." Alex held a finger up as he let himself get sucked into the game.

"Take. That. Back." Zuko said between gritted teeth."I could beat you in anything, anytime."

"I don't know man," Alex shook his head. "You're getting kind of rusty."

"Let's go. Arcade. Now."

Without wasting a second, Alex ran outside the room, calling back, "I bet I can even beat you there!"

Zuko, being the smart guy he is, slyly called back. "You have to stop at the elevator!"

He heard a loud "FUCK!" come from down the hallway.

* * *

"Let's just call it a tie..." Alex said, while lying back with his stomach jutting out.

"No way. I won."

Alex let out a disgusting belch that lasted about five seconds. "I bet i can-"

"Save it; you're gonna kill yourself." Zuko didn't look as fallen apart as Alex, but he felt like he was about to explode.

After they finished playing every single game in the arcade, they did ridiculous activities in order to prove who was better, but the competition ended in a tie until Zuko ate more at the buffet.

* * *

"I think it's safe to say.."

"That this vacation.."

"Is the best."

The three friends, now with perfect glowing skin and pampered nails, sat on a colorful swinging hammock, enjoying the gentle breeze of the beach, and watching the sun sneakily set behind the ocean.

"What do you guys think Ty Lee's doing at home?"

Toph checked her watch. "Well it's 5:23 right now, and it's a Thursday, so-"

"She's at gymnastics," Mai finished for her.

"Too bad she couldn't come.. " Katara said. "She would've loved it here."

"Yeah.."

"Hmm.."

They let another quiet moment pass before starting another conversation.

"So when do you guys want to eat dinner?" Katara's stomach growled. She had barely eaten half of her sandwich because of Jet.

"I'm hungry now.." Toph said.

Mai's stomach growled.

"Oh my gosh, Mai's hungry for once!" Katara stuck a tongue out at Mai, who returned it back.

One by one, they headed into the hotel to eat an early dinner.

* * *

"Yes! We're the only ones here!" Katara was VERY excited to be the first to sing karaoke after dinner.

"Huhh.." Toph didn't really like to sing in front of anyone- not even her friends.

Mai just sang whenever Katara was loud enough to cover her voice.

"What song should I choose?" Katara flipped through the books, desperately trying to find a song before people showed up. She chose 'Get Back' by Demi Lovato, which made her friends look at each other, because it was a difficult song to sing, especially when she wasn't warmed up.

Her friends were her only live audience at the moment, but she still felt uneasy. _What if somebody walks in? I wouldn't walk off the stage, and I can't exactly ask them to leave.._

The music made her start to think about singing. Just sing. Just sing.

'Don't walk away like you always do, this time  
Baby you're the only thing that's been,  
On my mind,'

Katara cleared her throat. She gave her friends a look, but they only shook their heads, telling her to keep going.

'Ever since you left I've been a mess  
You won't answer the phone.  
I'll say it once,'

Her friends gave her a disapproving look because she wasn't even trying to sing with her real voice.

'And I'll leave you alone,  
But I gotta let you know.'

She grabbed the microphone off the stand and started to sing louder; which attracted more people to come watch, so she briefly paused until her friends told her to keep going.

'I wanna get back, to the old days,  
When the phone would ring,  
And I knew it was you.  
I wanna talk back, and get yelled at,  
fight for nothing, like we used to'

Her friends closed their eyes, hoping their friend would hit the next high notes that were coming.

'Oh kiss me, like you mean it-'

Her voice lightly cracked when she tensed, which made the audience members glance around each other in doubt. Luckily, there were only 5, including her friends.

"Don't be scared! Just keep going, pretend nobody's watching!" She heard one of the audience members say. She swallowed hard, before continuing.

'Don't look at me that way,  
I see it in your eyes.  
Don't worry about me, I've been fine  
I'm not gonna lie I've been a mess,  
Since you left  
And every time I see you,  
It gets more and more intense'

Katara began to relax- her voice came out stronger than before, so she had confidence to start moving around.

'I wanna get back, to the old days,  
When the phone would ring,  
And I knew it was you.  
I wanna talk back, and get yelled at,  
fight for nothing, like we used to  
Oh kiss me, like you mean it,  
Like you miss me,  
Cause I know you do.  
I wanna get back,  
Get back, With you.'

* * *

"Hey, do you hear that? It sounds like a concert's going on. Let's go look"

Students started leaving dinner to watch a performance, not knowing that it was just somebody karaoke-ing.

Zuko and Alex's stomachs had gone down. Now, they were able to run without puking.

When they entered the crowded room, Zuko saw Katara rockin' the stage and couldn't help but smile up at her- she looked like she was having the time of her life, dancing whenever she wasn't singing.

'You were the only one I wanted.  
And you were the first one I feel for'

Toph and Mai's fingers were crossed that Katara wouldn't mess up this next part, which was supposedly higher than the part she messed up. They realized, though, that Katara wasn't going to mess up anytime soon- she looked like a professional performer, with the stage precense combined with energy she was giving off.

'You're the only one that I've been needing,  
And I don't want to be lonely anymore.  
I wanna get back, to the old days,  
When the phone would ring,  
And I knew it was you.  
I wanna talk back, and get yelled at,  
fight for nothing, like we used to.  
Oh kiss me, like you mean it,  
Like you miss me,  
Cause I know you do.  
I wanna get back,  
Get back, With you.'

Katara dragged out the last note for the effect of a good finish. Her audience was practically about 3/4 of the nineth grade, who were screaming for an encore.

"You were good!" Toph screamed over the crowd.

"Thanks!" Katara looked at Mai, who hadn't said anything. "You should go up there!"

Mai gave her one of those 'are you kidding?' looks, but Katara just shrugged.

"Let's get out of here!" Katara cried, while pushing her way through the crowd.

When they finally got outside, they were panting.

"Well.. I'm glad the karaoke party's started...?" Katara looked at her friends carefully.

"I think you got it a little too wild, Katara." Mai winked, causing all three of them to laugh.

"Alright, where are you guys going? I'm gonna go for a swim."

"I think I'm gonna go back to the room..I'm really tired."

"Me too." Mai yawned.

"You guys are party poopers!"Katara pouted, putting her hands on her hips. "Fine, I'll see you guys tomorrow at breakfast."

"Yeah, go down at like 9."

"Kay, see you!"

* * *

"Wow. She was really good!" Alex admitted to Zuko.

"Yeahh.."

"Zuko. Are you okay?"

"Uh huh.."

"I'm gonna go sing. Coming?"

"No. Are you stupid?"

"Okay then.. talk to you later."

Zuko needed a quiet place to think- he was feeling.. weird.

* * *

Katara went into the fancy locker rooms by the pool to change out of her swimsuit. There was a huge mirror, where she could examine herself in a swimsuit, critiquing every fault of her body.

When she came to a conclusion that her body was healthy and needed no criticism, she collapsed on a chair.

_Wow. I really sang in front of all those people._

She smiled at herself. That was a big accomplishment: usually, when she performed in front of a large audience, she wasn't able to sing normally.

The clock ticked.

Katara went outside of the locker rooms to look at the pool. Everything was amazing- there was an enormous, clean pool with half a dozen of small Jacuzzi s going around, and the wall facing the outside was made of glass, so she could see the dark ocean, the stunning, glistening stars, and most of all, the moon shone brightest and purest of them all. She gaped at the sight while stepping into the chilly pool, not realizing where her foot was going. Her foot slipped. Her head slammed into the railing she was holding a few moments earlier, causing her vision to go black after she vaguely saw a figure jump in the pool.

* * *

Zuko's sandals sliding against the carpet ground was the only sound in the hallways of floor B. He was looking forward to relaxing in the Jacuzzi. When he was watching Katara on stage, he couldn't take his eyes off her from the moment they made brief eye contact. He thought she had a voice of a rock angel, a rock angel who's voice he could never get tired of- ever. He wasn't about to admit it, of course, because he was Zuko. And Zuko NEVER liked anybody, right?

A familiar scream coming from the pool interrupted his thoughts, so he sprinted towards the sound.

The sight he walked in on wasn't pretty at all- some guy was holding a girl that looked extremely familiar on the ground, with his lips just inches apart from hers.

"Shut up," he hissed at her. "Somebody can hear you!"

"What are you doing?" Zuko demanded.

That girl on the ground was Katara, and she was in her swimsuit. She didn't look happy at all.

"N-nothing. I came here, a-and," The guy started backing up as Zuko stepped closer.

"Zuko, this is Jet. Jet, this is Zuko."

"..."

"Oh.. uhh, nice to meet you." Jet somewhat smiled at Zuko, who didn't return the gesture as much as Jet would have liked.

_Wow. He's scary looking when he's mad. If he's mad right now. _

"Yeah."

"...Soo.. want to.. go in a hot tub while we're here?" Katara suggested, hoping to break the tension that had built in the past couple minutes.

"Sure!" Jet pulled off his shirt, revealing a swimmer's body to both. He gladly stepped into the warm, bubbling Jacuzzi after Katara.

She looked at Zuko, who was awkwardly standing there, not making any movement.

Jet, who sensed this, turned to Zuko. "Aren't you.. gonna come in?"

He shot Jet a cold glare whiling pulling off his shirt, revealing an even hotter body than Jet. Katara, after seeing a strip of his abs, pretended to look somewhere else.

"Sorry, did I interrupt something earlier?" Zuko asked.

Katara was the first to speak. "No. We were, uh, It was like- " Obviously, Katara didn't know what was going on so she looked at Jet for help.

"It's like this," he began.

**_Flashback_**

Jet had come up to the pool for a few laps. He was in the locker room, changing into his swimsuit, when he heard a loud 'clang' followed by a 'splash'. Alarmed, he ran to the pool area to look for whatever was making that noise. The huge pool caused him to not find Katara immediately. Jet decided that it was nothing, but as he passed the pool the second time, he saw a body in the water. _Shit. _He didn't have enough time to get help, so the only logical solution was to save her himself.

She wasn't dead. When Jet recognized Katara, he tried to shake her awake. The moon was the only witness to see him peform mouth to mouth with Katara. She coughed up some water, but still wasn't concious. He tried it again, this time getting a response from Katara.

Normally, a girl who wakes up to a guy like Jet on top of her would freak out- and that's something she did, but to a different degree. Katara screamed.

Jet tried to calm her down so teachers wouldn't get the wrong idea, so he said "Shut up! Someone can hear you!"

**_End flashback_**

"Oh.. so that's what happened.." Katara said.

"We should probably head back to our rooms," Jet said. "I'll take you back to yours, Katara."

"No, I'm fine." When Katara stood up, her vision went fuzzy, causing her to stumble a little. She got her balance using Jet's arm.

Jet laughed. "Are you sure?"

"I'll take her back." Zuko was already throwing his shirt over his head.

"No Zuko, I don't want you to take me back." She glared at him, predicting that he was going to make this hard for her.

"I'm taking you back."

"No!"

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes."

"UGHHH!"

"Okayy.. I'm gonna go back to my room now. You guys have fun." Jet nervously walked out of the pool area, knowing that they were gonna argue for a while.

* * *

Later: In the elevator..

"You-"

"Shut up."

"Bu-"

"Just, shut up."

Zuko had no idea what to say. Every time he started to say something, Katara would tell him to 'shut up'. He was just helping her!

He hadn't noticed her push the button for floor D, which was the all-boys floor.

Zuko obediently followed Katara to her room, trusting she knew where it was.

_Hey, this hallway looks really familiar! _

As her key unlocked a door, his eyes opened wide- how the fuck did she get his key?!

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to my room. Goodnight." Katara slammed the door on Zuko.

She stopped dead in her tracks- the room was different than when she left it. It looked like some guys had trashed it. The bed was ruffled, there was apple cider on the counter, and there were empty cups stacked on the floor.

Then, the door behind her opened.

"Hey, how'd you open that?!"

"This is MY room."

"Did something hit you on the head?! Then why do I have the key?!"

"How do you think I got in here?!"

"..."

"..."

"There has to be some mistake."

* * *

Ahhh! Sorry it was so bad. I'll make it up to you with good writing in the next chapter.

I think I'm gonna stick with writing extra long chapters now. I was gonna write a short one and post it this morning, but couldn't stop! So there it is.

If you guys have any suggestions/advice, tell me.

Review!


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